April 13, 2025 | Ptr Marty Ocaya
Practicing self-control provides us a lot of practical benefits. If we want a secure life, we need to practice self-control (Proverbs 25:28). Most of our regrets result from our lack of self-control as we will see in the life of Samson.
Samson was born after the time of Joshua, and the generation he led into the Promised Land who obeyed the Lord. When that generation passed away, the Israelites started to disobey the Lord. Whenever that happened, God allowed them to be oppressed and conquered by their enemies (Judges 13:1). When they turn to God and cry out to Him for help, He would send someone (a judge) to rescue them. This cycle was repeated many times! Samson was one of these judges, born to his father, Manoah and his barren wife (Judges 13:2-3). It is amazing how we read in the Bible that God used barren women to accomplish things in spite of their limitations! Along with the promise of a son, God commanded Samson’s parents to do certain things and avoid certain practices because Samson was to be a “Nazarite” to God (Judges 13:4-5, 7). The command was not just for the parents; they were to model to Samson what it means to be committed to the Lord — the Nazarite vow (Numbers 6:2). The parents were to practice self-control, and to teach it (pass on) to their son what it means to be fully committed to the Lord (Numbers 6:8). A Nazarite commits to 1- Abstain from wine; 2-Avoid contact with the dead; 3-Refrain from cutting hair.
The favor of the LORD was with Samson, and the LORD blessed him! Samson did not have any excuse for his failures because God was with him. We are familiar with how Samson failed to practice self-control. But what can we learn from Samson’s story?
1) MASTER YOUR EMOTIONS (Judges 14:1-4)
When we let our emotions control us, they may lead us away from God. Emotions are not necessarily wrong but should be evaluated through the word of God. One of the most difficult opponents in life is our wrong desires. We see this with Samson’s desire for a relationship with the wrong women (vv1-2). Samson’s relationship with a Philistine woman would be problematic; God prohibited Israel to intermarry with non-Israelites in the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 7:3-4). Samson forced the issue with his parents (v3). Not everything that looks good to us, or seems right to us, is so! God will accomplish His purpose, whether we like it or not; either He accomplishes it with you following Him, and you are blessed, or without you, and you are cursed (v4).
Samson’s life could have been a very different story had he obeyed God and practiced self-control. God still accomplished His plan, but Samson experienced the wrath of God. Samson’s problem (and ours) is the heart (Jeremiah 17:9-10). David prayed for God to examine his heart and guide him according to God’s way (Psalm 139:23-24). Worldly self-control may not help us accomplish God’s purposes for our lives. A strong heart is developed through the daily practice of godly principles such as to 1-Pray; 2-Meditate on God’s Word; 3- Surround yourself who love the Lord. 4- Be humble and get Godly counsel; 5- Flee from your weaknesses.
2) MIND YOUR WEAKNESSES (Judges 14:5-9)
You don’t only flee from your weaknesses; you have to mind your weaknesses. Sometimes, we need to experience the consequences to expose our weaknesses. Samson knew his strength and used it to get anything he wanted, even if it violated his Nazarite vow to the Lord repeatedly (vv. 5-9, 19). But God was teaching Samson a lesson — even with great strength, he couldn’t get the wife he wanted (v20, 15:3-5). But despite all this, God’s grace was still with Samson (Judges 15:14-15, 20). God was gracious because He was giving Samson a chance to repent and do things God’s way. God sends warning signs to us! If we don’t deal with the red flags in our lives, it will cause more pain in the end.
We must make a choice — we either humble ourselves and we receive God’s blessings, or He humbles us, and we experience the consequences of our sin. Humility is important in practicing self-control. When we magnify God, we’re saying, “take control over my life, Lord!”. Once again, God was gracious, letting Samson escape from the Philistines (vv. 1-2). Samson almost died because of his weakness for problematic women, but Samson still did not learn his lesson. He fell in love with Delilah (v.4), and the Philistines knew about his weakness and took advantage of this (v5). After several attempts, Delilah eventually deceived Samson into revealing the secret of his strength and handed him over to the Philistines (vv. 6-18). Why didn’t Samson suspect that he was being fooled by Delilah? It’s so difficult to see the truth when our wrong desires control us. Saddest of all was that Samson did not even know that God already left him (v20). Samson became a blind slave and a prisoner of his enemies (v21). Even when Samson’s hair grew back, he wasn’t as strong as before (vv. 22-27). Finally, after everything else were taken away from him, Samson knew he needed God to (vv28-29). At the end of his life, Samson wanted to magnify God and fulfill His purpose (v30). The moment Samson humbled himself, God gave him the strength to fulfill God’s purpose for him. Our brokenness is God’s way to make us whole. Through Jesus, we can be redeemed from our past (1 Peter 2:24)!